When a baby born in Philadelphia was announced as the first person to get a gene therapy designed just for him, many people hailed the achievement as a starting point to treat virtually any genetic disease. But there is a long road that researchers and regulators need to pave before other people with genetic disorders…
CLIMATEWIRE | It was a simple enough question. Is climate change an urgent threat to the planet? To most climate scientists, the answer is straightforward: Yes, rapid warming from fossil fuel burning is pushing Earth toward dangerous tipping points. On supporting science journalism If you’re enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing….
Brains preserved for hundreds of years can contain intact proteins Alexandra Morton-Hayward It is now possible to obtain proteins from preserved soft tissues like brains. The new method could reveal details of human history and prehistory, and of evolutionary history, that were previously impossible to know. That includes what animals ate, the microbes they had…
Bad news, earthlings. Computer simulations of the solar system’s future reveal a new risk facing us all: The gravitational tug of a passing star could either cause another planet to smack into Earth or else fling our planet into the sun or far away from it, where any inhabitants would freeze. Blame Mercury. Astronomers have…
Rachel Feltman: For Scientific American’s Science Quickly, I’m Rachel Feltman. The World Health Organization estimates that infertility impacts one in six adults globally. But when it comes to addressing infertility, male partners are often left out of the equation. Some studies suggest that in 18 to 27 percent of cases where a heterosexual couple seeks…
Different interpretations of quantum mechanics pose philosophical problems Pobytov/Getty Images Does quantum physics place limits on the extent to which we have free will? This long-debated question stems from the way different physicists interpret the mathematics of quantum theory, but now researchers say they have come up with a way to test the idea and…
Brain cells named for stars are finally getting their time to shine. Three distinct studies, published May 15 in Science, show that astrocytes, once thought of as support cells, powerfully shape how brains work. These findings — from the brains of fruit flies, zebrafish and mice — open new possibilities for therapies aimed at mental…
New Mexico’s Plains of San Agustin are otherworldly: Silence, sand and sharp plants reign on the valley floor. Knobbly volcanic rock rises above. Pronghorns’ legs and jackrabbits’ ears break up the landscape. And so, too, does one of the world’s largest telescopes. The plains house the aptly named Very Large Array (VLA)—a radio telescope made…
“Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality,” Lewis Carroll famously wrote in Alice in Wonderland. To the scientifically minded, in the pursuit of an ever-clearer picture of reality, such a weapon may seem of little use. Imagination might feel like the trivial stuff of childhood fairy tales and senseless daydreams. Besides, few…
An artist’s illustration of a potential Planet Nine Mark Garlick/Science Photo Library/Alamy If the solar system does have a Planet Nine, it is a world that was bullied by its larger siblings, exiled to the far reaches of space and only rescued from oblivion thanks to the intervention of passing stars. Planet Nine is a…
